


running the maze

by TrishaCollins



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: 300 pizzas stat, Ferrets, Gen, M/M, Red is not a good hostage, actual helpful adults, matt is a really smart dork, mystical bond with the Lions, we're coming to get you damnit
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-12-05
Updated: 2017-12-08
Packaged: 2019-02-10 23:57:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,568
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12922920
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TrishaCollins/pseuds/TrishaCollins
Summary: When Matt breaks his leg a few short months before launch, nothing much changes at first. But with a pack of geniuses on the case and Keith having weird dreams about fire, eventually everything does.





	1. pranks are not appreciated

It was hard not to feel glum staring at his leg. Four broken bones, three in his foot, the other in his leg. He would be in a hard cast for six months and working it rebuilding his leg in PT for months after that.

The mission of a life time would leave in three. He didn't need the sympathy on his dad's face to know that Dana Kowalski would be getting an outrageously exciting phone call later.

“So what's the recovery time if we just cut it off and fit me with a prosthetic?” He asked, ignoring the horrified look in the doctor who wasn't missing out on the mission of a lifetime because some cadets greased the stairs in the Sim building.

“Years to adapt and you'd have to go through basic again. There will be other missions, Matthew.”

“But they won't be the first “ He pointed out. 

His dad gave his shoulder a squeeze. “I need to go make a few calls, son.” His dad told him. “Your mother and sister will be here soon.”

“Tell Dana she owes me lunch.” He told his dad, trying to keep some level of humor about the situation. 

Dana deserved the mission as much as he did. They had both worked hard, she had scored only two points behind him in the testing. He couldn't really begrudge her the mission he had barely won.

But it still hurt, knowing he wouldn't be going.  
.***

His mom tried to reassure him, but the launch day with him balancing on crutches while Dana bounced around like a hyper rubber ball, dragging her fiancée through the mission prep and talking excitedly with his dad was still a punch in the gut.

He had almost stayed home, but he couldn’t do that to his dad.

Katie was torn, he could tell. She wanted to be outraged on his behalf – and had almost bristled at Keith who had stared at her like a confused kitten and ducked behind Shiro until something distracted her – but she was too excited about the ship and the mission and peppering her dad and Dana with questions.

“Won’t be the same without you out there, Matt.” Shiro said quietly, one arm tossed around Keith’s shoulder, keeping his feral cat close. “Make sure he takes it easy for me, will you, Keith?”

He almost groaned, not wanting to be Keith's distraction while Shiro was off discovering the universe 

Keith eyed him, clearly not liking the idea any better, but then seemed to relax. “You think he's going to try to fly after you?”

“I might ride after them. You do the flying, I’ll do the comms.” He retorted.

Keith grinned, the first smile he'd seen in weeks. 

“Don’t encourage each other.” Shiro groaned.

“Too late. You already assigned him to me. “ He winked at Keith. “I’ll be taking it easy if he flies.”

Keith's mouth relaxed further. “Cadet Kogane reporting for duty, sir.”

Shiro sighed. “I don't even want to think of what the two of you will manage to get into while I’m gone.”

He laughed. “Mission one, get out of this cast. Mission two, the re-missioning, get Keith graduated, top of his class, before you get to the ice moon. Mission three, the mission strikes back, go save your ass when you get frostbite In orbit around Pluto.”

“Hey! The mission will go fine, I’ll be back in time to cheer Keith on during exams.” Shiro was putting on an incredible display of fake outrage.

He slid his eyes to Keith. “Don’t worry, my dad can keep them alive until we get there to save them.”

Keith laughed, and some of the tension he'd been carrying seemed to ease out of him.

The mission launched.

Eight months later, phone pressed close while Keith made a low keening noise in his ear, those words were all he could think of.

His dad would keep them alive until they got there. There was nothing else that was possible.


	2. He's Looking At You

**~3 Days Post Launch~**

It was an incredibly normal Monday.

 

Really, it was almost disgusting how normal the Monday was.

 

The milk had gone off in the hustle of getting everything packed, so he ate his cereal dry, leaning against a crutch and squinting against the sunlight hitting his east facing windows.

 

The apartment felt empty, and he felt scraggily. He hadn’t shaved in three days. Maybe before that. He had tried to look presentable for the launch.

 

“You look homeless.” Keith commented, lounging in Shiro’s doorway.

 

He grunted, waving his spoon vaguely at Keith. “Do you ever use the door?”

 

Keith snorted, picking up the milk carton and peering at it. “You need groceries.”

 

“I’ll go to the commissary later.” He shrugged vaguely, not really awake enough to have a full conversation. He felt disconnected, and that was the worst part of it. So much of the last year had been spent building for launch, and now here he was, on the dirt, feeling gravity post launch day.

 

It felt weird, and he didn’t like it. He’d get over it, eventually, he knew that. But right now he just wanted to wallow a bit in what wasn’t going to happen.

 

Keith stared at him, head tilted to the side. “I can do it.”

 

“You have class.” He rolled his eyes. “I am on paid medical leave to protect my delicate foot and the brain attached to it.”

 

“Doesn’t mean you have to go shopping alone.” Keith’s eyes glinted, and he could almost see the _mission_ settling around Keith’s shoulders. Like a cape. Shiro had left the kid with a damned cape.

 

Shiro had left the kid with a damned cape and a damsel to defend.

 

Damnit. He had hoped the kid would decide that Shiro was just joking, but apparently he’d taken the man at his word. Which should have been expected, really, because Keith hung on Shiro’s every utterance.

 

He groaned. “You are not babysitting me while Shiro is out exploring the universe.” He just wasn’t going to allow it. They had made it out of Earth’s gravitational pull last night, there was no way Shiro was assigning him as Keith’s project for the entire mission. It just wasn’t fair.

 

“You’re eating Golden Grahams dry in a bath robe.” Keith stole a piece of cereal out of his bowl, popping it into his mouth. “Someone has to.”

 

He swiped at Keith, who ducked lazily under his hand. “You have a physics test.”

 

Keith offered a wolfish grin. “I’m practicing. I’m out of classes at four. Meet me at the Com with your car?”

 

He sighed, narrowing his eyes at Keith. “You’ve not going to leave this alone.”

 

“Not a chance.”

 

He slumped against the counter. “Fineeee.”

 

Keith grinned, snagging his bag from by the door. “See you then.”

 

He glared blearily at the door, and left his half eaten bowl on cereal on the counter, making his way back to the bathroom.

 

Maybe he should shower.

 

~ Commissary, Galaxy Garrison, Earth, 3 days post launch.~

 

True to his word, Keith was waiting for him right outside the commissary, hair a ruffled mess and flight jacket thrown over his uniform.

 

That bike he had obsessed over and Shiro had helped with rebuilding was parked in one of the spots.

 

“Do you have you license yet?” He asked, curious.

 

“Shiro took me to get it. Certified for all small craft under a ton.” Keith stood up from the wall.

 

“Nice. At least the insurance will pay out when you break your neck.” He grabbed a cart, leaning his weight on it.

 

Keith snorted, rolling his eyes. “Comm officers.”

 

“ _Pilots.”_ He returned, letting the overpowered air-conditioned wash over him as they walked inside. “I don’t know why you waited outside. It feels like an oven.”

 

“Northern comm officers.” Keith muttered under his breath, pausing just inside the door and glancing around. “Did you bring the list?”

 

The conversation for half a second had felt familiar, the banter the same sort of back and forth he’d shared with Shiro. Well he guessed if Keith was going to model himself after someone, Shiro wasn’t a bad start. “Mhm. You know its super cold in space, right? You haven’t done LEO yet, but when you do….” He pulled it out of his pocket with a flourish. “Since you volunteered and I’m not allowed to lift things, you’ll be doing all of the heavy lifting.”

 

Keith grunted, clearly not impressed with him.

 

Oh well, NASA wasn’t launching lunar probes in a day.

 

They managed to get most of the list knocked out in under an hour, by the end of which the healing break was aching so bad he nearly gave in and allowed Keith to go steal one of the little carts meant for the elderly members of the base.

 

But his pride wouldn’t allow for it.

 

He turned a corner and found himself pausing, staring at a towering brick of mac & cheese.

 

He shook himself when he realized he was, in fact, staring at it. Because if there was anything that reminded him of Shiro, it should _not_ be boxed Mac & cheese, but Keith had a weird faraway look on his face and was staring at it too.

 

He caught Keith’s eye, and rolled eye eyes, gesturing to include them both. “WE are both completely ridiculous.”

 

Keith smiled after a moment. “Should take a picture, send it on to him with our next official call. Tell him we miss him.”

 

He snorted. “’Hey buddy, I know you just left Earth’s Gravitational Pull, but we saw some mac & cheese and remember that time in grad school that you almost died because you were trying to survive on it?’”

 

Keith laughed, ducking his head. “Did they?”

 

“Huh?”

 

“Make the slingshot? Leave Earth’s pull.”

 

He glanced at his watch. “Should be doing it around 1900. Dad’s meant to send me a message once they do, so I’ll let you know.”

 

Keith nodded, worrying his lip. “Yeah. That’d be great.”

 

He grinned, and reached out to give him a light push. “Three days down, only two hundred and eighty eight days to go.”

 

Keith nodded, grimacing a bit. “Only that much.”

 

It seemed like a long time, now. But they’d make it.

 

**~ Matt’s Apartment, Galaxy Garrison, Earth, 63 days post launch.~**

 

Keith walked into the apartment, bag hitting the floor with a thud that made him wince, and walked to the couch, collapsing face first with no resistance.

 

He flipped the burgers before he went to check on him, watching Pidge twist to study him. “What’s up?”

 

“Iverson wants me to _mentor.”_ Keith moaned into the couch cushions.

 

“Yeah. Everyone’s got a mandatory five hundred mentoring hours.” He veered to the counter, resuming his dinner prep. “Plus the thousand hours of co-pilot seat.”

 

“ _Mentoring.”_ Keith repeated, putting all of his disgust into it.

 

“He likes to keep his skills pouring into whoever is coming up. That’s how Shiro found you. Plus, if that’s his _only_ condition for early graduation, you’re getting off easy.”

 

“I have to log sixteen hundred in the sim, but my hours registered count. I’m near nine hundred, anyway, Shiro got me extra hours before he left.” Keith sighed, sitting up, and seemed to register Pidge was there, flattening a bit on the couch.

 

“So. Are you doing it?” He prompted, when Keith seemed to forget he was talking.

 

Pidge stared at Keith, Keith stared at Pidge.

 

Two wild creatures in the same tiny space. He pondered interfering, and then just decided to allow them to stare each other down.

 

Keith frowned, working his mouth and leaning his elbows forward on his knees. “I’d have to finish basic after I graduate.”

 

“That’s doable. You already managed survival training.” He spread his hands with a shrug.

 

Keith frowned. “I’d need to sit the exams early.”

 

“So we study. We make sure you’re ready.” He pinned Keith with a look. “Look, you want this. You want Mars, you want Jupiter, and you want the first mission out of the solar system. If you don’t start logging actual mission flight hours you will never be considered.”

 

Keith sighed. “You’re right. I turned in my paperwork today. It has to go before the committee. But Iverson is sponsoring it, and you said….”

 

“He’s the one you need.” He confirmed. “Time to start working your brain as much as you work those sticks in the sims!”

 

Keith managed a half laugh, chewing on his lips.

 

Pidge glanced at him, questioning, and then grinned. “Congratulations. You’re Kogane, right?”

 

“Yeah.” Keith shot him a look.

 

It wasn’t hard to tell that Keith wasn’t happy with the fact that someone was in _his_ space, even if the apartment was still under his name, and not anyone else’s. But he knew when Keith stopped leaving that he had inherited Shiro’s project and that he should just embrace the fact.

 

“Keith, my sister, sister, Shiro’s feral desert cat.”

 

Keith shifted on the couch, gave her a quick nod, and escaped to his room.

 

“Shy, huh?” Katie asked after a moment, frowning at bit.

 

“You don’t even know the half of it. Give him time, he warms up eventually.” He fluffed her hair. “I need to hear more integrals while I’m making burgers.”

 

**~ Sim #45, Galaxy Garrison, Earth, 92 days post launch.~**

 

He could see Keith on the screen, standing with his arms crossed and his back straight, eyes narrowed, everything focused on the readouts around him.

 

They weren’t to his problem team yet, they were dealing with one of the teams that just needed pushes. They would never rise out of cargo class, but they had talent if they could overcome it. Keith did well with this team, he scored them well and fairly, and they in turn seemed to enjoy his help.

 

That Keith took more risks than they were willing to was a known factor, but they had done well when Keith threw emergencies into the sim, and had landed in all but three of their excursions.

 

Pidge was standing with Garret and Espinosa standing on either side of her.

 

There was a thump behind him as the observation room opened, and Iverson blinked at him for a few moments, guilty, before he eased down into one of the chairs. “How’s he doing?”

 

“He’s still with cargo class. Everything is going normal.” He tapped his headset. “Espinosa and Garret are down there with my sister, they’re next.”

 

Iverson huffed. “Good. I wanted to see the show. That Espinosa kid…”

 

“He has talent. Even Keith can see that. He’s just got a bug up his butt and Keith can’t figure out why.”

 

Iverson sighed, leaning back in his chair. “Kogane is the best, but his mentoring skills…”

 

He huffed a laugh. “Shiro was an aberration, most ace pilots have a chip on their shoulder.”

 

“And Kogane has a bolder.” Iverson tugged on his lip. “You supported his bid for early graduation. Holt left a letter, Shirogane left a letter. Who doesn’t believe in him?”

 

A lot of people, and that was part of the problem. But that was too personal to share with someone Keith still didn’t quite trust. “He’s learning. He’s a good pilot, Shiro noted that he needed interpersonal work.”

 

“Yeah, yeah.”

 

The team in the sim finished, the small engineer tossing herself at Keith. He flipped the speakers on, listening to her babble at him and chatter about one of the maneuvers he’d guided them through.

 

Keith was stiff, but he wasn’t pushing her away.

 

He could see how overly excited Espinosa was, the way he was bobbing up and down, the way he was staring at Keith.

 

The kid was already amped up and he hadn’t even set in the door.

 

Keith managed a smile before he herded the girl after her team, promising to meet them there the next time. He could see him draw himself up, taking a deep breath, before turning to face Garret and Espinosa. Pidge was clearly not as much a concern.

 

“Start easy, Keith.” He directed.

 

Keith made a brief face, but pasted the fakest, shitty smile on his face he’d ever seen.

 

“Abort smile, Kogane. You look like you’ve been to the dentist.”

 

Keith’s face relaxed back into something neutral. “I thought we’d try a different scenario today.”

 

“Oh yeah? Something _you_ can handle?” Espinosa said, almost leering.

 

“No. Something I think you’ll enjoy.” Keith was trying so hard not to bristle.

 

Iverson was sitting forward, watching them intently on the screen.

 

“Enjoy, huh? What sort of thing?” Clear challenge, Espinosa was all tensed up. He wanted to fight. “Not going to go easy on us, are you, Kogane?”

 

Keith gave him a pained look in the camera. That had been the plan, really. Go easy on them, give them a chance to do an easy mission so they could get praise. “I just want to do something on your skill level, Espinosa.”

 

“ _My_ skill level, Kogane? Think I’m not as good as you, huh?”

 

“Lance.” Garret rumbled, irritated.

 

Keith bristled, but was clearly fighting it down, and suddenly turned to look at Pidge. “So the early Mars mission, first landing. You know anything about it?”

 

“Oh, yeah, the engine exploded during ATMO entry, the pilot had to land with one engine, his co-pilot was taken out during the explosion. They were six months away from backup and venting air, so they had no choice but to try to land. Dad talks about it all the time, one of his friends was on it.” Pidge brightened.

 

“Keith that’s not the plan-“

 

Keith reached up and flicked his ear.

 

“Fuck.” He buried his face in his hand.

 

“What?” Iverson asked.

 

“He’s going to make Lance fail a sim so he can prove his point, not succeed.” He rubbed his face. “He’s just going to make his fucking ego explode.”

 

Iverson sighed. “I should put a stop to this. It’s a bad idea.”

 

Keith was gesturing, and the team was filing into the sim.

 

He was just about to stand up and do that, when Katie reached up and tugged her ear.

 

He wanted to ask if she was sure, if the hold signal was meant for him, what she was thinking. But….

 

“Let’s see what happens.” He offered, instead, leaning his hands on the desk.

 

He really didn’t want to see them crash and burn.

 

It lasted longer than he thought it would, and it wasn’t until the “Simulation Successful” tag flashed over his screen that Iverson let up on the death grip he had on his shoulder.

 

“Ow.” He mumbled, shifting to try to work the crick out of his neck.

 

Keith whooped down below, then laughed. “Well done. Very well done, Pidge the patch work was great, Espinosa you managed to set it down with more wing fin remaining than the original landing did. Less of a furrow too. The landing gear survive, Garret?”

 

“It’s at about sixty percent, the rubber is there which will make the survival scenario easier.” Garret was studying the screen and making adjustments.

 

“See. You can work together.” Keith clapped Espinosa’s shoulder. “Good flying. Hard landing, but you used the dune to soften it. Check your gear rating for how much of the survival equipment survived it.”

 

Lance looked almost dumbfounded by the praise, but jumped forward to enter readings into the screen. “We had a 10% increase in survival of equipment, and the interior structure maintains sound till you get to the outer three layers. Venting in the aft, but patchable.”

 

Keith was nodding along with him, looking pleased. “Told you that you’d do better with something suited to your skill level. Well done. I expect a similar performance next week during your classes.”

 

Lance flushed at once.

 

He caught Keith outside, later, after he’d sent the cadets to bed. “That wasn’t what we planned at all.”

 

Keith had his head down, bent over his boot, staring at the bench. “He wouldn’t have respected me, if we made it too easy.”

 

“So you gave him a ride or die scenario, either put up or get out?” If he was honest, he was a little bit irritated with Keith. Keith had risked his early graduation to put Lance in his place.

 

“His problem is that he doesn’t take the sims seriously. It’s like….it’s like a video game.” Keith stood, leaning against the lockers. “So. I made him take it seriously. I knew he could handle it, or I would have picked a different sim.”

 

So Keith had been thinking about it, moving the pieces around Espinosa to get the best results. “You think it will hold?”

 

Keith frowned. “Me graduating requires it to hold. They’re my mission. I have to get them to pass. Everyone Iverson is sending me. So yeah, it should. If not I throw a few more high difficulty sims at them until they’re too scared of me not to take it seriously.” Keith tossed him a look, considering. “I know it’s not what you told me to do.”

 

“I don’t care how you do it, you do you.” He flopped down on a bench, rubbing his leg. “Just caught me off guard, that’s all.”

 

Keith nodded. “I-I’ve been trying to make sense of him since this started. He- I was-“ Keith grimaced. “I know what it’s like to try to prove yourself and nobody takes you seriously. So I took him seriously.”

 

“Right.” He sighed, rubbing his face. “Shiro makes it look easy.”

 

“God yes.” Keith slid down the lockers, hands hooking around his knees. It was one of his weird alien poses, assumed so naturally he barely thought of it anymore. “I don’t know how he does it. It’s impossible. Like trying to teach the garbage man to fly a spaceship? Who thought that was a fun idea. It’s all so stupid, most of them aren’t anything to keep wasting energy on.”

 

“We need cargo pilots too, Keith.” He pointed out, dry.

 

“But they don’t need to know how to slingshot around a theoretical pulsar that we’re two hundred years from discovering!” Keith ran a hand through his hair roughly, looking wild. “They need to know how to fly, and how to be prepared for things. Not.” He made a helpless gesture. “It just seems pointless. Mentoring fighter class is easier.”

 

He shrugged. “We’re advancing every day. Who knows, maybe we will be slingshotting around that theoretical pulsar before we’re good and retired.”

 

Keith grunted, shaking himself. “It’s worse to watch someone fly a mission when you want to grab the yoke for yourself.”

 

“Yeah. That’s what you need practice on, even Shiro said so.”

 

Keith tugged his sleeves over his hands, shaking himself. “Let’s go home. I’m done with work for the day.”

 

He laughed. “The lights are all off, little Kogane, _Everyone_ is done with work for the day.”

 

**~Mission command, 157 Days Post Launch.~**

 

It had been a weird few months, they’d kept busy at least. He knew Keith wanted to talk to Shiro, even if they were constantly zipping messages back and forth. He’d barely made it back from the mandatory twelve-week course with the Air Force, even though he’d passed with flying colorings. He had a suspicion that part of the delay was that the General at the base wanted Keith for a terrestrial vessel, and Keith wanted nothing but to get back to the Garrison before the Jupiter call.

 

But he had made it. He had passed and jumped through every hoop Iverson had sat up for him, and he was here. Not as a cadet, but as an officer.

 

Keith kept lifting his hand to rub at his head, scowling every time he encountered scalp instead of hair.

 

Sending him to basic tor eight weeks was worth it for the comedy value of Keith with a buzz cut alone. He tried to keep the smile off his face, but he had been sneaking pictures since Keith had got back, and he knew Keith was pretty much done with him.

 

His greens were so new they still smelled like dye, and Iverson kept giving him a weird look.

 

“Kerberos shuttle is making contact, fifteen second delay.“ The comm officer announced. “Video in three, two, one “

 

Shiro's face filled the screen for a moment before he leaned back. “Hey Earth “

 

“Captain, Commander, Special Officer. I know mine is not the face you want to see.” Iverson sounded amused. “Who drew long straw?”

 

“Commander Holt is going last. Mine will take the least amount of time, so I am going first.” Shiro explained, grinning. He saw the moment Shiro saw Keith, from the way how eyes went wide. “My God, Keith your hair.”

 

“I know. Matt has already made fun of it.” Keith lifted a self-conscious hand to his head.

 

“No. It looks good, really. You finish?” Shiro was grinning, and he could almost expect the teasing in his dad’s next message.

 

“Yeah. Officially graduated.” Keith said shyly. “I have my first LEO the 21st of October. Still finishing my mentoring hours.”

 

“That's great! I knew you could do it. How has Matt been treating you? Eating alright?”

 

“I am so not answering that on a recorded line.” Keith answered with a grin. “How is Jupiter?”

 

“I am looking forward to getting past it. The gravity well is making my job harder. Sure makes for quite the view though.” Shiro grinned that soft smile he was sure would be some sort of mission brief. Some rally to join the garrison, some call to arms.

 

Look how handsome space travel makes you. Something. That smile could launch a thousand careers, and he knew it wouldn’t stay between the two of them.

 

He hoped whoever was going to mine this data didn’t realize just who Keith was, and why Shiro smiling like that was top secret information.

 

“It’s weird without you here.” Keith admitted. “I keep wanting to talk to you about mentoring, you are so much better at….that stuff than me.”

 

Keith’s face had softened into something warm, open. It would be unguarded if there weren’t people pressing about and a comm officer recording everything.

 

“You are so much better at that than you give yourself credit for, Keith. I heard you got Espinosa in line. Last report?”

 

Iverson coughed.

 

“I got him focused, he had the skills for it. He thinks my new haircut is hilarious.” Keith rubbed his head, grimacing. “My head is cold.”

 

Shiro laughed, shaking his head. “It’ll grow back. Maybe Matt can take you hat shopping, he can take money out of my account for it. It’ll be my graduation gift.” Shiro teased.

 

Keith rolled his eyes. “I thought the parts for the bike were your graduation gift?”

 

“Nah, I mean. You graduated. In five months! It’s a big deal. We’ll name a crater on the dark side after you.” Shiro leaned forward, hand half reaching for the screen before he caught himself. “Wish you were out here. Just so I can take a nap while we’re playing tug-oh-war with Jupiter’s gravity.”

 

Keith smiled. “Yeah. I mean. I could at least poke you if you started to fall asleep. You’ll call when you get close to the Saturn amplifier, right?”

 

“Sure will, Keith. Keep up the good work, ok?” Shiro caught his eye for half a second, grinning, and stepped out of frame.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I had this internal tug of "should I just jump right into it" and instead I basically did a "few months in the life" all told from Matt's perspective. Sorry if the chapter was boring, hope everyone enjoys.

**Author's Note:**

> So this idea came to me randomly. It will involve some original gg characters and friends of Matt and Shiro. Also a lot of Keith because Shiro. But the others will be there because Blue likes attention too. I am not sure entirely where this will end up! I will be using the idea that the kids were MEANT for the Lions and we're probably all a bit weird to start. So you know, mystical telepathic space cats.


End file.
